A Collegian's Play Is the Talk of Her Small Town

By KAREN CROUSE

Published: July 9, 2011

COLORADO SPRINGS - At the Oxbow Golf and Country Club pro shop in North Dakota, the phone rang nonstop on Friday morning. Most of the callers weren't seeking a tee time but, rather, a score. Amy Anderson, an 18-year-old whose family belongs to the club, was playing in her first United States Women's Open and had charged to the top of the leader board on Thursday before play was suspended because of lightning. ''A lot of people were calling into the pro shop to ask how she's doing,'' said David Talley, who was manning the phone. Talley, 17, a golfer on his high school team, added, ''It's a big deal in our small town to see one of our own on the big stage.'' After sleeping on the lead, as it were, Anderson, a rising junior at North Dakota State, played the final five holes of her first round in even par to card a two-under-par 69 to remain the front-runner into Friday afternoon. It was a surreal start for Anderson, whose older brother, Nathan, is caddying for her. ''It's exciting,'' she said. ''It hasn't sunk in.''

Anderson's first stroke Friday was a 15-foot putt for birdie, which she left four-feet short. She made a bogey at No. 15, a par 4, but got the stroke back with a seven-foot birdie putt at No. 17. ''I'm trying not to get ahead of myself,'' said Anderson, who was asked to describe her hometown of Oxbow. ''It's a town of about 300,'' she said. ''Basically just a golf course with no houses. No gas station. No grocery store. Nothing too glamorous. But Fargo is a pretty decent-size town, and that's just 10 minutes away.'' Anderson has won five tournaments in each of her two years at North Dakota State and has twice qualified for the N.C.A.A. Division I tournament. Her 12th-place finish this year was the highest finish ever by a Summit League player. She usually takes a break from golf in November and December, she said, once winter settles in. When she resumes practicing in January, she hits off a mat in a 60-yard indoor facility.

''I hit everything,'' she said, ''and there's just a net in back of it where it flies into. I find it really good because there are flags up there and strings that I'll aim at, and I can really fine-tune my swing with that.''

REVERSED ROLES After winning the 1998 Australian Open, the former tennis player Petr Korda carried his daughter Jessica in his arms. Eleven years later, he was carrying Jessica's bag as the 18-year-old began play in her fourth major -- all United States Women's Opens. Petr Korda had hoped to be on the other side of the ropes for his daughter's rounds at The Broadmoor. He relinquished caddying duties in the spring because he found it too hard straddling the line between caddie and father. He resumed caddying at his daughter's behest. ''It just didn't work out with my caddie,'' Jessica said, ''so on short notice I asked him.'' Father and daughter covered the first 18 holes in two-over-par 73. Jessica said she liked the arrangement -- most of the time. ''We're so similar, so he kind of knows what's going on with me,'' she said. ''He knows what goes on under pressure. He makes me laugh when I need it.'' She was asked if she remembered anything from the 1998 Australian Open awards ceremony. ''I remember I was coloring and he crawled up the fence and lifted me up,'' she said. Korda told The Times of London in 2009 that when he received the trophy and looked up and saw his wife, Regina, and Jessica, ''it felt like I was standing on top of the Himalayas.'' Jessica could not talk long. Because of bad weather Thursday, she had to turn around with only an hour's break Friday and start her second round.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

PHOTO: Amy Anderson remained a front-runner at the United States Women's Open after completing her first round at two-under 69. (PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE EHRMANN/GETTY IMAGES)